Today In Entertainment

AUGUST 28, 2020

Whats news: AMC Theatres moves to reacquire cinemas it had divested, Black Lives Matter co-founder calls on Hollywood to strike, inside Stacey Abrams's "monster movie" about voter suppression, Team Downey and Westworld producers tackling Michael Crichton's Sphere for HBO, Sofia Coppola's On The Rocks joins NYFF lineup, Trump theatrics punctuate the end of the RNC. Plus: A review of Bill & Ted Face the Music, and news from Gamescom. --Alex Weprin

 AMC Theatres Sees COVID Opportunity

➤Just in: AMC Theatres is poised to get even bigger. The cinema giant is asking a judge to modify terms of an antitrust judgment from four years ago so that it may reacquire theaters it had previously divested as part of its $1.2 billion deal to acquire U.S. rival Carmike.

--"The degree of economic hardship currently being experienced by AMC, New Vision, and the entire theatre exhibition industry is a unique changed circumstance that could not have been anticipated at the time the Final Judgment was entered," states the motion, which briefly argues that allowing AMC to negotiate leases and operate theaters is in the public interest. The story.

➤Black Lives Matter co-founder calls for Hollywood strike over Jacob Blake. TV writer Patrisse Cullors tells Kirsten Chuba that talent and executives in the entertainment industry should join with sports teams in work stoppages: “I think Hollywood can really show up in this moment.”

--“People are tired of having to say the same thing over and over again, and not seeing the change that we deserve from either party, frankly,” she says. “I think the work that we're up against right now is to ensure that we can get Trump out of office, but also ensure that we can get the Democratic Party to truly create policies that will make sure that Black people are protected from vigilantes and from police torture.” The story.

➤Inside Stacey Abrams's "monster movie" about voter suppression. With her new Amazon doc All In, the former Georgia gubernatorial candidate cements a Hollywood partnership, Rebecca Keegan writes.

--"I believe in meeting people where they are, not where we think they should be," Abrams says during an interview in mid-August, the day before she was to call Donald Trump a "president of cowardice" during a keynote address at the Democratic National Convention. "I’ve written a book about voter suppression. I’ve done op-eds about it. I have digital conversations about it. But film is a unique medium that has reach and scope. It has the ability to draw in the watcher and turn that watcher into an activist." The story.

 HBO's 'Sphere'

➤Team Downey and Westworld producers are adapting another Michael Crichton concept for HBO. The premium cable outlet is developing a drama based on Sphere, Crichton's novel about a team of scientists who encounter a mysterious object a thousand feet under the ocean. Denise Thé, an executive producer and writer on Westworld, will serve as showrunner and executive produce with Westworld creators Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan and Team Downey. The story.

In other TV news...

+Selena Gomez will keep cooking at HBO Max. The WarnerMedia streamer has renewed its unscripted series Selena + Chef for a second season. The final four episodes of the first season, which has renowned chefs teaching Gomez how to cook while she's quarantined at home, debuted Thursday on HBO Max. More.

+A&E will air a special on policing in America that gives voice to activists and victims of brutality as part of a larger campaign to spotlight people working to make positive changes in their communities. Laurence Fishburne will narrate Voices Magnified: Policing in America, which is set to air Aug. 30. More.

➤The final night of the Republican National Convention. A big party on the South Lawn of the White House, masks and social distancing optional. Speeches warning of imminent danger should Joe Biden be elected in November. Fireworks above the Washington Monument blaring the words "Trump 2020."  Yep, the final night of the RNC was about what you would have predicted heading into the night.

+In a critic's notebook, Daniel Fienberg writes that "for the most part, the rage-inducing series of lies, hyperbole and obvious fear-mongering gave way to a numbing exhaustion. That was never truer than with Trump’s listless, droning, 70-minute speech, during which the candidate himself looked as bored sticking to the script as much of the audience at home." The notebook.

+RNC takes a ratings dive: After rising on Tuesday, ratings for the Republican National Convention took a hit on Wednesday night. The six major networks covering the convention averaged 17.3 million viewers in the 10 p.m. ET hour, per Nielsen. That is also down sharply from the same night four years ago, when the same six outlets drew 22.81 million viewers. That's a 31 percent drop. Last week's Democratic convention brought in 21.46 million viewers on its third night. The numbers.

➤Creative Arts Emmys update: Nicole Byer, the host of the twice-Emmy-nominated Netflix reality competition baking series Nailed It!, will host all five nights of the first-ever virtual Creative Arts Emmy Awards, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences announced on Thursday. It was announced earlier this month that the celebrations of creative and technical achievements will take place between Sept. 14-17, streaming on Emmys.com, and additionally in a two-hour FXX broadcast on Sept. 19. More.

 'Bill & Ted' Review

➤Film review: John DeFore reviews Bill & Ted Face the Music. The film "is almost exactly as good as its two big-screen predecessors — make of that statement what you will — while cleaning up some, but not all, of the things that might make an old fan of those films cringe today," DeFore writes. "Despite a dicey opening, the pic should please those looking forward to it, and, with the addition of a new generation (the duo's daughters), attract a new fan or two as well." The review.

+Here's what the other critics are saying. The review roundup.

➤The New York Film Festival has added the world premiere of Sofia Coppola's On the Rocks, which sees the filmmaker reunite with her Lost in Translation star Bill Murray in a comedy about a father-daughter duo played by Murray and Rashida Jones, to its lineup. The A24 and Apple Original Films title joins a number of other high-profile titles in the Spotlight section at 58th annual event, presented by Film at Lincoln Center. More.

➤Gamecom news: Europe's largest gaming convention went virtual this year. Some of the news: A number of award winners were announced including best Sony PlayStation game, which went to the role-playing action-adventure title Cyberpunk 2077 from Polish studio CD Projekt Red... Annapurna Interactive revealed Thursday that James McAvoy, Daisy Ridley and Willem Dafoe have joined the voice cast of its latest video game, Twelve Minutes...

Obituary: Joe Ruby, the animation veteran who co-created the character of Scooby-Doo and oversaw Saturday morning children's programming at CBS and ABC, has died. He was 87. A four-time Daytime Emmy nominee, Ruby died Wednesday at his home in the Westlake Village section of Los Angeles, his grandson Ben Ruby announced.

➤Critics' conversation: I May Destroy You, P-Valley and other summer TV greats, groans and guilty pleasures. THR's TV critics Daniel Fienberg and Inkoo Kang break down the delights and disappointments of Summer 2020's small-screen offerings, including Lovecraft Country, Perry Mason, Immigration Nation and — yes — Selling Sunset. The conversation.

➤TV's Top 5 podcast: During this week's podcast, hosts Daniel Fienberg and Lesley Goldberg break down the wave of "un-renewals" and the broadcast networks' fall strategies, and speak with Power creator and showrunner Courtney Kemp about the show and its four (!!) spinoffs in development at Starz. Listen.

In other news...

--Lionsgate and 21 Laps will team for horror Mother Land. The high concept spec script centers on a family that has been haunted by an evil spirit for years, but heir safety and their surroundings come into question when one of the children questions if the evil is even real.

--Fangoria — the iconic horror brand that includes the eponymous magazine, as well as sibling properties Gorezone and Starlog — has been acquired, with plans to develop projects based upon its portfolio that champion new and diverse creators.

--Paradigm has tapped Shakira Gagnier to head the agency's diversity and inclusion efforts, in an announcement made by chairman and CEO Sam Gores.

--R. Kelly was recently attacked by a frustrated fellow inmate in his jail cell.

What else we're reading...

--"Hollywood’s diversity push has left out one important group" [Bloomberg]

--Tik Tok users’ obsession with “Criminal Minds” may change TV fandom forever" [LA Times]

--"Comcast is looking to enter the smart TV wars" [Protocol]

--"YouTube Took Down Most Videos Ever In A Single Quarter After COVID Altered Its Moderation Approach" [TubeFilter]

--"‘No way to properly manage frequency on two ad servers’: The ad tech hitch in Disney’s and ViacomCBS’s streaming upfront pitches" [Digiday]

Today's birthdays: Sheryl Sandberg, 51, Shania Twain, 55, LeAnn Rimes, 38, Jack Black, 51, Quvenzhane Wallis, 17.

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AUGUST 28, 2020

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